Tottenham 3-1 Reading: Adebayor and Dempsey lift in-form Spurs up to third

The north London side responded to Pavel Pogrebnyak's early opener to record its seventh win in nine matches as the race for the Champions League heats up in 2013.

By Greg Stobart

Jan 1, 2013 11:55:00 AM

Tottenham celebrated the New Year in style
as the club moved up to third place in the Premier League with a hard-fought 3-1
over Reading at White Hart Lane.

Reading took a shock lead in the fourth minute through Pavel
Pogrebnyak’s header but Spurs leveled five minutes later as captain
Michael Dawson glanced the ball in from a corner.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side completely dominated the game and sealed
the result in the second half through an Emmanuel Adebayor header
and a deflected strike from substitute Clint Dempsey.

It was a victory that rewarded Tottenham’s patience as the club
extended its excellent run to seven wins in the last nine matches.
Reading remains second from bottom in the table.

Spurs made one change to the side that beat Sunderland as Gylfi
Sigurdsson replaced the suspended Gareth Bale, while Reading named
an unchanged lineup for the third successive game.

Reading arrived in north London having lost eight out of its 10
previous away matches this season, but the visiting side took a
shock lead in the fourth minute as Pogrebnyak scored his fourth
league goal of the campaign.

It was the simplest of finishes for the Russian as he responded
quicker than the Spurs defenders to head into an empty net after
Ian Harte’s wonderful curling free kick crashed off the underside
of the crossbar.

The lead did not last long, however, and five minutes later Spurs
were level. Gylfi Sigurdsson whipped in a vicious in-swinging
corner and Dawson got in front of the Reading defenders to glance
his header into the far corner.

From that moment, Spurs dominated possession and territory but
struggled to break down Reading’s well organized defense as space
narrowed and gaps closed in the final third.

Andre Villas-Boas side was largely restricted to shots from range,
with Mousa Dembele firing just wide from 30 yards before Jermain
Defoe’s powerful strike skipped just past the post with Reading
goalkeeper Adam Federici well beaten.

But Reading’s resistance could only last until five minutes after
the restart. Aaron Lennon skipped past Harte on the right side of
the penalty area and stood up an excellent cross for Adebayor to
head in from seven yards for just his second league goal of the
season.

Spurs pressed for a third goal but could not find a route to the
Reading goal before the visiting side served a warning of the
fragility of a one-goal advantage when Pogrebnyak forced Hugo
Lloris into a smart save and then headed the rebound wide.

It seemed to inject some life into Brian McDermott’s side, which
again nearly equalized when Alex Pearce’s header from a corner was
cleared off the line by Dawson.

Yet the Royals were swiftly punished as Dempsey sealed the result
with a shot from 25 yards that deflected off Mikele Leigertwood and
looped over Federici and into the net. Follow GOAL.COM on